Private Investment Funds

Few firms offer the breadth of practice that we bring to private fund managers and investors. We understand the issues specific to different types of funds and offer advice that comes from a wealth of experience across industries and global markets. Our lawyers work in all the key industries, including, real estate, venture capital, private equity, infrastructure, natural resources and hedge funds, raising funds worldwide that range from less than $50 million to over $12 billion. And with the breakneck pace of technology disrupting industries around the world, we have a team that is equally proficient in advising the innovators and the investors across the private equity, technology, healthcare and life sciences sectors. We partner with clients to embrace the promise and potential of innovation to make a lasting impact.

The depth and breadth of our experience allows us to provide our clients with the most current market terms for their industry as well as access to cutting-edge developments across industries. We handle every stage in the life cycle, and we provide fund managers with the sophisticated level of counsel required for forming, advising and operating private investment funds. Within fund formation, we take a creative approach, starting with not only the specific objectives of a particular fund but also an assessment of how the fund fits within the client’s broader business goals. We then help fund managers determine the best structure and terms to achieve those goals.

As part of our strategic fund advising process, we counsel fund managers and investors on market terms and conditions and provide a wide range of legal expertise. Clients rely on us for:

Innovative tax planning and fund structures

State-of-the-art documentation

Securities law expertise

Ongoing compliance programs

Profit sharing and other compensation plans

Investment Advisers Act and Investment Company Act compliance

Banking and other financial services expertise

We are known for creating innovative fund structures that accomplish client goals and meet the unique tax, regulatory and other requirements. Our private fund experts work with interdisciplinary teams to provide counsel at every stage of a fund, drawing on the collective knowledge and experience of our firm’s tax, securities, ERISA, banking and other financial services practices.

Paul J. Verbesey

Debt Finance

Goodwin’s unique combination of deep experience serving both the innovators and investors in a rapidly-changing, technology-driven economy sets us apart. We partner with clients to embrace the promise and potential of innovation to make a lasting impact. Our Debt Finance practice represents borrowers, private equity sponsors and lenders in a broad range of financing transactions. Our Debt Finance lawyers work closely with the firm's Private Equity, Technology Companies, Capital Markets, and Financial Restructuring groups structuring, negotiating and documenting domestic and cross-border debt financing arrangements, including secured and unsecured senior, mezzanine and subordinated debt facilities, acquisition-financing transactions, working capital facilities, as well as loan workouts and restructurings.

On the borrower side, Goodwin represents private equity firms and their portfolio companies, leading public and private companies and start-ups in a wide variety of business industries. On the lender side, Goodwin’s clients include domestic and international banks, insurance and finance companies, mezzanine lenders, business development companies and other institutional investors.

FinTech

Technology has permeated the modern age and influences nearly every aspect of our daily lives. Long-standing financial services institutions are a prime example of how far the technological revolution has reached. Brick and mortar financial institutions are facing new disruptive competitors in everything ranging from mobile and peer-to-peer payments to online banking and lending. FinTech companies are receiving record high investments across the globe and the market is thriving at an unparalleled pace. With new regulatory considerations developing in tandem, it is crucial for a successful FinTech company to have expert legal counsel that is fully apprised of all the newest developments, such as GDPR in Europe, and how they affect the industry.

Hedge Funds

Hedge fund markets are facing extraordinary challenges, including increased competition and a changing global regulatory environment. With extensive experience and resources in this industry, we help our hedge fund clients find opportunities, capitalize on them and provide better service to their investors.

We offer interdisciplinary expertise and an understanding of the “big picture” – which is critical for clients who offer their investors a wide ra

Investment Management

The investment management industry is expected to continue to experience a rapid pace of change in the coming years. New investment strategies, shifting demographics and investor needs, the breakneck pace of technology disrupting industries around the world, expense trends and increasing regulatory pressures are all proving to be game changers. As these extraordinary challenges for the industry continue, Goodwin is uniquely positioned to provide comprehensive and innovative solutions as market participants prepare for these changes, and our team can help clients capitalize on new opportunities and navigate the growing marketplace challenges.

Life Sciences

Succeeding in the life sciences industry is as much about strategy and execution as it is about research and development. And with the breakneck pace of technology disrupting industries around the world, Goodwin’s depth of experience not only in the life sciences space, but also in collaboration with our technology, healthcare and private equity lawyers, makes our team exceptionally suited to address whatever the future brings. We partner with clients to embrace the promise and potential of innovation to make a profound and lasting impact.

Lawyers in our life sciences practice are deeply experienced in corporate governance, financing and M&A transactions, collaborations and licensing, regulatory matters, and intellectual property law. We understand the challenges of securing funding, safeguarding intellectual property, establishing partnerships, bringing new products to market, opening up new revenue streams, and protecting existing product lines. As part of our interdisciplinary approach, we collaborate with attorneys in our patent litigation, products liability, employment and tax practices to protect client interests and to advocate on their behalf.

With a full service team of highly experienced lawyers resident in key life sciences hubs, our team helps clients find the strategic paths that foster growth and minimize risk across all phases of the corporate life cycle. Motivated by the knowledge that the work that we do with you is improving people’s lives, we serve as an extension of your team so you can focus on your core business.

Investment Funds

Real estate investment managers, ranging from first time fund sponsors to established industry leaders, as well as public REITs, insurance companies and investment banks, depend on Goodwin for the best structure and terms when raising and deploying capital. Our international Real Estate Investment Funds Practice has a reputation as a market leader in advising funds and their sponsors and managers in fund structuring and formation in all key real estate industry verticals. Our work involves U.S., European, Canadian, Latin American and global funds ranging in size from less than $25 million to more than $4 billion. Our lawyers also work with financial institutions, private equity and hedge fund managers expanding their investment funds to include real estate as an investment focus.

Real Estate Tax

Tax issues often arise when structuring real estate funds, joint ventures, REITs and transactions, particularly when doing so across borders. Our real estate clients turn to Goodwin’s tax experts to help them overcome the hurdles that these issues present. Our tax expertise is at the core of the firm’s real estate transactional practices with dedicated real estate tax experts who are recognized and differentiated by their global industry knowledge, creativity, clarity, and integration with client planning. Working seamlessly with other members of our transaction teams and knowing and understanding a client’s business, allows them to appropriately balance tax considerations and business objectives to achieve the best possible results.

REITs and Real Estate M+A

When businesses need counsel at the intersection of real estate and the public markets, they turn to Goodwin, a proven leader and innovator. From the dawn of the REIT market in the 1960s through the modern REIT era that began in the early 1990s, our lawyers are the industry vanguard – helping to draft the Real Estate Investment Trust Act of 1960, pioneering the creation of the first public UPREIT structure, and successfully representing issuers in the largest and most complex REIT IPOs to date. And with the breakneck pace of technology disrupting industries around the world, we partner with our clients and embrace the promise and potential of innovation to make a lasting impact.

Goodwin has been consistently recognized as a leader serving the public REIT market, including in connection with alternative uses of the REIT vehicle, REIT conversions and innovative compensation structures like the modern LTIP partnership unit. As REITs have matured into a mainstream investment with expanded reach around the globe, the industry’s top players continue to rely on our expertise and dedication. And as REITs seek to take advantage of regulatory reforms that broaden their access to capital, such as new exemptions from registration or innovative equity securities, our lawyers are always first on the scene.

Tax

Complex tax issues often arise in structuring strategic, commercial and financial transactions and investment products. To find practical solutions to these challenging issues, clients rely on Goodwin’s tax lawyers to advise on the full range of international, federal and state tax issues. Clients seek us out not only to address their tax issues on a transaction, but also to help them gain a competitive advantage by creating structures designed to solve the tax issues faced by the counterparties.

Technology

As a growing technology company, your prospects are exciting and your challenges are unique – from securing funding, protecting IP, and navigating the regulatory environment, to differentiating yourself in the marketplace, managing customer acquisition and scaling your business. We get it. Our dedicated team brings a comprehensive, coordinated approach that interconnects business, new technologies and the law. Our depth of experience in the private equity space along with our technology, healthcare and life sciences lawyers makes Goodwin uniquely suited to harness the breakneck pace of technology. We partner with clients to embrace the promise and potential of innovation to make a profound and lasting impact.

Venture Capital + Private Equity Funds

Venture capital and private equity funds face varying opportunities and challenges depending on industry, market fluctuations and fund type. Few firms offer the breadth of practice that Goodwin brings to private fund services. We understand the issues specific to venture capital, private equity, funds of funds and other types of funds, and can provide advice that comes from a wealth of experience across industries. The firm has a well-deserved reputation as a market leader in the formation and ongoing representation of private investment funds. Our depth of experience in the private equity space along with our technology, healthcare and life sciences teams, makes Goodwin exceptionally suited to handle the breakneck pace of technology disrupting industries around the world. We partner with clients to embrace the promise and potential of innovation to make a profound and lasting impact.

Goodwin’s unique combination of deep experience serving both the innovators and investors in a rapidly-changing, technology-driven economy sets us apart. We partner with clients to embrace the promise and potential of innovation to make a lasting impact. Our Debt Finance practice represents borrowers, private equity sponsors and lenders in a broad range of financing transactions. Our Debt Finance lawyers work closely with the firm's Private Equity, Technology Companies, Capital Markets, and Financial Restructuring groups structuring, negotiating and documenting domestic and cross-border debt financing arrangements, including secured and unsecured senior, mezzanine and subordinated debt facilities, acquisition-financing transactions, working capital facilities, as well as loan workouts and restructurings.

On the borrower side, Goodwin represents private equity firms and their portfolio companies, leading public and private companies and start-ups in a wide variety of business industries. On the lender side, Goodwin’s clients include domestic and international banks, insurance and finance companies, mezzanine lenders, business development companies and other institutional investors.

Technology has permeated the modern age and influences nearly every aspect of our daily lives. Long-standing financial services institutions are a prime example of how far the technological revolution has reached. Brick and mortar financial institutions are facing new disruptive competitors in everything ranging from mobile and peer-to-peer payments to online banking and lending. FinTech companies are receiving record high investments across the globe and the market is thriving at an unparalleled pace. With new regulatory considerations developing in tandem, it is crucial for a successful FinTech company to have expert legal counsel that is fully apprised of all the newest developments, such as GDPR in Europe, and how they affect the industry.

Hedge fund markets are facing extraordinary challenges, including increased competition and a changing global regulatory environment. With extensive experience and resources in this industry, we help our hedge fund clients find opportunities, capitalize on them and provide better service to their investors.

We offer interdisciplinary expertise and an understanding of the “big picture” – which is critical for clients who offer their investors a wide ra

The investment management industry is expected to continue to experience a rapid pace of change in the coming years. New investment strategies, shifting demographics and investor needs, the breakneck pace of technology disrupting industries around the world, expense trends and increasing regulatory pressures are all proving to be game changers. As these extraordinary challenges for the industry continue, Goodwin is uniquely positioned to provide comprehensive and innovative solutions as market participants prepare for these changes, and our team can help clients capitalize on new opportunities and navigate the growing marketplace challenges.

Succeeding in the life sciences industry is as much about strategy and execution as it is about research and development. And with the breakneck pace of technology disrupting industries around the world, Goodwin’s depth of experience not only in the life sciences space, but also in collaboration with our technology, healthcare and private equity lawyers, makes our team exceptionally suited to address whatever the future brings. We partner with clients to embrace the promise and potential of innovation to make a profound and lasting impact.

Lawyers in our life sciences practice are deeply experienced in corporate governance, financing and M&A transactions, collaborations and licensing, regulatory matters, and intellectual property law. We understand the challenges of securing funding, safeguarding intellectual property, establishing partnerships, bringing new products to market, opening up new revenue streams, and protecting existing product lines. As part of our interdisciplinary approach, we collaborate with attorneys in our patent litigation, products liability, employment and tax practices to protect client interests and to advocate on their behalf.

With a full service team of highly experienced lawyers resident in key life sciences hubs, our team helps clients find the strategic paths that foster growth and minimize risk across all phases of the corporate life cycle. Motivated by the knowledge that the work that we do with you is improving people’s lives, we serve as an extension of your team so you can focus on your core business.

Real estate investment managers, ranging from first time fund sponsors to established industry leaders, as well as public REITs, insurance companies and investment banks, depend on Goodwin for the best structure and terms when raising and deploying capital. Our international Real Estate Investment Funds Practice has a reputation as a market leader in advising funds and their sponsors and managers in fund structuring and formation in all key real estate industry verticals. Our work involves U.S., European, Canadian, Latin American and global funds ranging in size from less than $25 million to more than $4 billion. Our lawyers also work with financial institutions, private equity and hedge fund managers expanding their investment funds to include real estate as an investment focus.

Tax issues often arise when structuring real estate funds, joint ventures, REITs and transactions, particularly when doing so across borders. Our real estate clients turn to Goodwin’s tax experts to help them overcome the hurdles that these issues present. Our tax expertise is at the core of the firm’s real estate transactional practices with dedicated real estate tax experts who are recognized and differentiated by their global industry knowledge, creativity, clarity, and integration with client planning. Working seamlessly with other members of our transaction teams and knowing and understanding a client’s business, allows them to appropriately balance tax considerations and business objectives to achieve the best possible results.

When businesses need counsel at the intersection of real estate and the public markets, they turn to Goodwin, a proven leader and innovator. From the dawn of the REIT market in the 1960s through the modern REIT era that began in the early 1990s, our lawyers are the industry vanguard – helping to draft the Real Estate Investment Trust Act of 1960, pioneering the creation of the first public UPREIT structure, and successfully representing issuers in the largest and most complex REIT IPOs to date. And with the breakneck pace of technology disrupting industries around the world, we partner with our clients and embrace the promise and potential of innovation to make a lasting impact.

Goodwin has been consistently recognized as a leader serving the public REIT market, including in connection with alternative uses of the REIT vehicle, REIT conversions and innovative compensation structures like the modern LTIP partnership unit. As REITs have matured into a mainstream investment with expanded reach around the globe, the industry’s top players continue to rely on our expertise and dedication. And as REITs seek to take advantage of regulatory reforms that broaden their access to capital, such as new exemptions from registration or innovative equity securities, our lawyers are always first on the scene.

Complex tax issues often arise in structuring strategic, commercial and financial transactions and investment products. To find practical solutions to these challenging issues, clients rely on Goodwin’s tax lawyers to advise on the full range of international, federal and state tax issues. Clients seek us out not only to address their tax issues on a transaction, but also to help them gain a competitive advantage by creating structures designed to solve the tax issues faced by the counterparties.

As a growing technology company, your prospects are exciting and your challenges are unique – from securing funding, protecting IP, and navigating the regulatory environment, to differentiating yourself in the marketplace, managing customer acquisition and scaling your business. We get it. Our dedicated team brings a comprehensive, coordinated approach that interconnects business, new technologies and the law. Our depth of experience in the private equity space along with our technology, healthcare and life sciences lawyers makes Goodwin uniquely suited to harness the breakneck pace of technology. We partner with clients to embrace the promise and potential of innovation to make a profound and lasting impact.

Venture capital and private equity funds face varying opportunities and challenges depending on industry, market fluctuations and fund type. Few firms offer the breadth of practice that Goodwin brings to private fund services. We understand the issues specific to venture capital, private equity, funds of funds and other types of funds, and can provide advice that comes from a wealth of experience across industries. The firm has a well-deserved reputation as a market leader in the formation and ongoing representation of private investment funds. Our depth of experience in the private equity space along with our technology, healthcare and life sciences teams, makes Goodwin exceptionally suited to handle the breakneck pace of technology disrupting industries around the world. We partner with clients to embrace the promise and potential of innovation to make a profound and lasting impact.